Asian contractors targeted

摘要

Thames Water is to target contractors from as far as Asia to work on its super-sewer, Thames Tunnel project when it puts the work out to tender this year. Phil Stride, head of Thames Water London Tideway Tunnels said accessing Asian tunnelling expertise could keep costs down. "There's a lot of expertise in China, which could benefit this project," he said. "We're not necessarily talking about a contractor from China or Singapore carrying out a section of the Thames Tunnel alone, but maybe in joint venture." Thames Water plans to put out a number of large tunnelling contracts at the same time with the aim to split the scheme into three sections designed to minimise the need for contractor interaction. The company is to put the reference design out to tender with approval expected in 2014 to allow for a 2016 start on the tunnelling work. Thames is following the trend towards global sourcing with work handled by international contractors, many of which are Asian-based companies.